Needless to say, West of Loathing has a lot of Shout Outs. Please note that Shout Outs to Kingdom of Loathing are Mythology Gags and should be listed on the main page.
- This isn't the first time in video games where you encounter cow demons.
- The Daveyard (a cemetery exclusively for Daves) is chock full of references, among which include shout outs to Dave Grohl, Dave Coulier, and even what seems to be David Bowie. (Though it's further implied that, despite appearances, "Dave B." is not David Bowie, but Dave Barry).
- Eating plum pudding gives the messages "You eat the pudding, even though you haven't eaten your meat" and "No dark sarcasm here."
- When you ask the balloon clown what makes them float, he replies that "They all float."
- During the climatic train battle at the end of the game you come across four rooms, three of which contain someone pertaining to mystery murder trains. They are, in order, a dapper young lad who calls himself the World's Greatest detective, a strange Funny Foreigner detective with a great mustache, and an old woman who may be a reference to Jessica Fletcher or possibly even Agatha Christie herself. (The third room is empty)
- According to a Vatican decree, the bale of cowbane is a Christian bale.
- Your pet crow is named Russel.
- The Time Nexus in the West Pole leads to either Dr. Brown's laboratory (judging by the sweet car) or West World (judging by the android wearing cowboy clothes).
- Going further to the right reveals where you really are — but that's a matter for another page
- At Fort Memoriam, the player character mentions a tabletop war game called Flintlock 4000.
- Your graphics options are Good, Bad, and Ugly.
- KurtzFit is a parody of CrossFit. It's gotten pretty popular because the first rule of KurtzFit is that you cannot stop talking about KurtzFit.
- The Potemkin Gang is encountered in a fake town made of plywood and paint, similar to the climax of Blazing Saddles. In addition, the player and their pardner encounter Emperor Norton and watch the game's epilogue (and consequently their futures) at a movie theater.
- The name refers to "Potemkin villages"
. Historians still debate if Potemkin really used cut-outs to impress the empress, as his contemporaries accused him, or just plotted the route through richer villages.
- The name refers to "Potemkin villages"
- There's a guy who tells you stories in exchange for laudanum once you find his helmet in Kole Ridge Mine.
- Kole Ridge Mine and its sister location Butterfield Ranch are also shout outs to Kole Ross and Gary Butterfield, hosts of the Duckfeed podcast network, and your pardners reference their shows when you talk to them in those locations. Gary and Kole are friends of Riff Conner, the writer of West of Loathing.
- The Goblins are all a species of goblin/orc-ish fungoid creatures, similar to Warhammer 40,000 Orks.
- The achievement for finding 37 different map locations is titled "In a Row?".
- In the late game, there are a few different one-time encounters that are references to various works:
- "A flashy goblin," an inexplicable Elvis impersonator.
- A skeletal Texas Ranger, who you can beat up or help to get a badge.
- One of the Breadwood insults is "Cakesniffer."
- The goblins in Gustavson Gulch are pretty literate:
- You can listen in on a one-man show of Goblet.
- There's a Goblintongue copy of Jabberwocky in their library, which you note reads essentially the same as the English version.
- The goblin version of the Alice's Adventures in Wonderland story "Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There" is one of the things that can be examined in the Goblin Library, being called "Alice Going Into a Seeing Glass"
- Emperor Norton is a reference to Emperor Norton In Name Only—he's really only included for the pun of the Norton Ant-Eye Virus. The ghost of Kellogg, however, is pretty accurate to his historical counterpart—right down to the mustache.
- Wasco's failed attempts at comedy are clearly aping actually funny jokes and sketches, such as his version of Who's on First?. He also tells the riddle of the Sphinx as if it's a joke.
- The entire Gun Manor DLC is an extended shout out to the Winchester Mystery House, which was likewise owned by a gun magnate and is supposed to be haunted. The exterior even has similar decorations on the windows.
- Within Gun Manor, the second-floor hallway is lined with paintings that are references to famous works by well-known artists. This is actually part of a puzzle. The last names of the six artists are used to find a word. note
- The gallery ghost's quest is reminiscent of cases in the Ace Attorney games, complete with your character shouting "OBJECTION!" when they see a contradiction and evidence being thrown at their face.
- When your character return to the gallery ghost after learning about duel law, they mention how the only part they didn't understand is when it's legal to banish your opponent to the shadow realm.
- In the hedge maze, taking the path North, West, South, West leads to a graveyard filled with gravestones. One of them can be pushed to find a hidden item.
- Flo sings the Final Fantasy victory fanfare after defeating the music room's ghost. The player character lampshades it and mentions that they might get content ID'd.
- Trying to use the piano in Gun Manor with an empty page of sheet music will make the game snark, "Who do you think you are, John Cage?"
- The Strange Head Sack is made out of red, gold and green wool like something from a dream.
- An encounter with an animal skinner can lead to your character attempting the "that's not a knife" bit from "Crocodile" Dundee.
- In the hidden lounge in Shroomcave, a phonograph can be found playing Misbehave (In This Cave). The game remarks that "Your grandkids will love this music."
- Looking up Bustle/Bustled/Bustles in the dictionary in Gun Manor's Library comes up as "Any activity performed in a hedgerow". Inversely, looking up Hedgerow defines it as "A good place for a bustle".
